Ridgecrest City Council's meeting had a packed house Wednesday night as members of the public and, and athletes from the local leagues and Burroughs High School filled the seats as the City Council continued tackling the budget decisions for the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Strong support was shown by the community over the various programs at risk from potentially giving up Leroy Jackson Sports Complex and shunning maintenance and management of Kerr McGee Youth Sports Complex.

The council called Jim Ponek, the Parks and Recreation director, back to the seat for an update while the crowd waited to speak.

Ponek maintained he would keep to his original budget presentation to hand Jackson Sports Complex to the county, end irrigation to the city's medians and Hellmers Park, reduce one position to half time and giving up maintenance and management of both KMYSC and the Senior Center.

However, he offered up alternative ideas, including shifting all maintenance costs of the medians to another department, add back the maintenance staff person and add two seasonal positions for an impact of $48,000, add back Hellmers Park irrigation for $12,000, add back KMYSC expenses at $54,500 and increase fees to both the football and baseball teams, hire a new recreation coordinator for $50,000.

This would cut the proposed savings from an initial $200,000 to $55,400.

Ponek additionally asked to utilize $140,000 in development impact fees to install lights at KYMSC's football fields, develop portions of Freedom Park for soccer fields and fence the area for $50,000.

All of these were alternative ideas with Ponek reaffirming he would be sticking with his original $220,000 proposal.

“One of the big issues is that we lost staffing over the last three years and it's not just a shortage of staffing. It's a shortage of facility space,” Ponek told the council.

He also addressed the possibility of transforming Freedom Park into a Xeriscape facility, posing the possibility that it cost more to transform and maintain than it was with the current grass area.

The council immediately cut into Ponek's proposals, questioning possible alternatives.

“I think we have enough brown fields as it is,” Patin said, drawing loud applause from the crowd.

Patin also called Ponek to task for suggesting raising the fees toward the youth baseball and football leagues, saying it would not solve the problem.

“Here's the thing: If you do that to most programs, those programs won't exist,” Patin said. “They would have to double their own fees to operate.”

Councilman Jim Sanders, who had asked for information on Xeriscaping Freedom Park, called on Ponek to better clarify why it would cost more for browning the park out rather than keeping grass in place.

Page 2 of 3 - “I don't know the cost of how much it costs to maintain it if it's Xeriscaped,” Sanders said. “We can't make those decisions if we don't those numbers.”

Ponek said those costs would remain similar if Freedom Park were fitted with fields, with only a $10,000 increase.

“I believe we can maintain it with what we have right now,” Ponek said.

Sanders said the city needs to account for the $10,000 in the budget if it were incorporated.

Ponek said he would absorb the costs while trying to continue focusing on building revenues, but copped to the fact he would not know until it went into effect.

“We won't know until the end of the season, but I believe we have planned for it so we can make it happen,” Ponek said.

Sanders said he understood Ponek's direction but seemed unsatisfied with the overall response.

“I just don't think we're accounting for all the costs and that should be reflected in your proposal,” Sanders said.

Ponek said it was off the table given the opposition to the idea, though the initial proposal would save the city $55,000 in the first year.

“Just as a reminder, if we closed the pool, it would never be reopened again because it's so old,” Ponek said.

Councilwoman Lori Acton took charge, bluntly asking what manpower he required KMYSC and Jackson Sports Complex, for the medians and Hellmers, Freedom, Pearson and Upjohn parks and the community center.

Ponek's response: He would need 10 full time maintenance people and five part time to maintain all Park and Rec department assets.

When Acton asked how many people he had currently, Ponek said he had six full time people to maintain his facilities. Acton followed up by saying with Ponek's suggested cuts; the level of staffing should in theory go down.

“You really have just cut yourself down to needing only four full time employees,” Acton said. “You have six, so you should only need four.”

Acton said it boiled down to a matter of priorities and should be revisited.

Acton also questioned Ponek's decision to maintain 40-minute swim lessons, saying her own research from speaking with various organizations and experts suggested 30-minute swim lessons were more efficient and generated more revenue.

“You increase the time and it cuts into our revenue and I do not see a justification for that,” Acton said.

Council did not reach a consensus about any cuts Wednesday night for any general fund cuts, instead deciding to postpone further decisions until Monday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Page 3 of 3 - However, the meeting left some questions unanswered for some council members, including Councilman Sanders.

“I question the logic to put additional fields on Freedom Park when we may end the lease for Jackson Park,” said Sanders following the meeting.